  This song is a hit from 1971, by the bubble gum pop star Melanie (Safka). It was her biggest success, topping the charts for three weeks, and bringing the LP, Gather Me, to #15 where it went gold. But this song, while catchy, quickly disappeared and left Melanie with a childish image. The success of 'Brand New Key' caused Melanie's old label, Buddah Records, to release some of her older work, which hindered her growth out of the image. She continued releasing albums after, but to little fanfare. Melanie recently resurfaced with her 1989 Emmy Award win for writing the lyrics to "The First Time I Loved Forever," for the televison show 'Beauty And The Beast'. And hey, Medellia's mom remembers this song from when she was a kid. She says Melora sounds a lot like Melanie. In the chorus of Brand New Key, the lyrics go like this You've got a brand new key I think that we should get together and try them on to see" The roller skate and key were first patented on January 16, 1866, by Mr. Everett Barney. It is a metal screw, clamp skate. The skate clamped on to the edge of normal shoes and then was tightened with a key. You'd be surprised at how many people don't get the connection. This was a great song for Rasputina to cover, because of the era the clamp skate is from. (For those who haven't figured it out yet, she needs to "get together" with the key because she's got roller skates that need tightening. ^_^) |